


Taming a Lion

by thisisfaycountri



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Harry Potter is Salazar Slytherin, Hogwarts Founders Era, M/M, Time Travel, children of the founders, godric is a werewolf
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:22:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27252625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisisfaycountri/pseuds/thisisfaycountri
Summary: Harry Potter is thrown back in time after a massive fight with Voldemort. The castle is near destroyed, his friends and family are dying, but he had won.Except when he wakes up the castle is fine, and a man claiming to be the first werewolf is hovering over him in concern. Just what exactly has he gotten into?
Relationships: Godric Gryffindor/Harry Potter, Godric Gryffindor/Salazar Slytherin, Helga Hufflepuff/Original Male Character(s), Rowena Ravenclaw/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 115





	Taming a Lion

There wasn't much on my mind when I woke up besides the debilitating pain that I felt lacing through my stomach. I could feel something moving- shifting?- being pushed around, and with a startled realization that there was someone with their hands in my stomach, somewhere no one should have access to in the first place, I cry out. I hear another shout, running steps. I tense, realizing there's a wand pointed at me just from the magic I could feel in the air, and then I'm floating away again on a dreamless thought that They must not want to be torturing me, so why on earth were they in my stomach?

The next thing I remember with any kind of clarity is white. I was looking at the white ceiling of a vaguely familiar room, though the color was much brighter than I remember it being. The white color surrounding me is like a balm to my soul, a soothing presence that kept my thoughts at bay. There was no blood, bathing my fingers and trembling knuckles red, no green grass turned black and muddy by all the feet that had trampled it. There wasn't a speck of color on the white ceiling of the hospital wing.

The fact that I was in the hospital wing hit me with the impact of a troll and I recall back to why I could possibly be here.

That was all it took. One stray, curious thought and I was whirling down the drain of despair and bone-deep sorrow and anger like the suds in the sink at aunt petunias. 

Pain, fear, running. So much running. Running until my back ached, my lungs felt like I was spitting fire. Running until I couldn't feel my legs, long numbed to the sharp jabs and jolts of my protesting muscles. Running like my life depended on it. No, that wasn't enough to describe it. Running like my _friends’_ lives had depended on it, because they had. Running straight into the fray of a bloody, messy, terrifying battle, right smack in the middle of Hogwarts as we defended her to our last breath. Bodies falling, some of them with names attached to the tip of my tongue as I watch the light leave their eyes, others with barely a glance as the mask obscures any real knowledge of who it was. 

Facing Voldemort. So many lights, so much pain. cuts. slashes. dancing around his little barrier, wearing him out as much as I was wearing myself out. Wand raised, ready to do it, to kill the man that would kill a child, and there’s a whispered breath of warning before the spell he had shot at the shield bounces back and I turn to block, ready to defend, only to have the cutter slice into me, nearly in half.

The hall had gone silent as I sank to my knees in shock, hands trying valiantly to keep my intestines inside of me and not on the floor as blood poured everywhere. What do I do? I don't know healing spells.

The cackling laugh has me looking up. His arms were already raised, like he had already won, my wand, coated in blood- _my blood_ \- and painting his fingers bright red against the white skin. Shouting in victory, a roar of sorrow somewhere behind me. 

It was dumb and reckless and completely, entirely an impulse reaction to seeing my wand in his hands. I stretch a hand out, surprised at how black the blood on my fingers looked as I intoned the killing curse. It couldn't be channeled without a wand. It was too powerful, too finicky. It didn't like being told what to do and you had to have something controlling it.

the green light pulsed in my palm for just a moment before slamming into Voldemort, shoving him into the barrier he still had up before he fell against it, body lifeless. my blood smears on the shield. my blood? his blood. someone's blood, both our blood. the shield shimmers, cracks, I'm alarmed to see the Avada colored lightning skittering across the barrier before it shatters and throws my battered and blood-soaked body into oblivion.

"Alright there, lad?" 

The force of my startled jump has me groaning as I double over, only for a large, calloused hand to shove me back against the bed with some force.

"None of that now, Helga would have your ass if you ripped open all of her hard work." the large man quips, giving me a reassuring smile even as he studies me cautiously. 

"What?" Who? Where's-"

"Shush, we don't need to know names. There's a lot to explain lad, you've been out nearly two weeks healing up," he says firmly before calling a house elf. Soon the large man with big, honey-colored eyes- I realize, when they flash the amber whiskey color I had noticed a thousand times on Moony, that this man was a werewolf- was spoon-feeding me a heavy soup that had my stomach rolling by the first half. But I was hungry, and he seemed to understand that because he never took my 'no more' to mean 'send it away' so much as I meant 'give me a moment'. Finally, the soup is gone and he's helping me sit up so that he can take my bandages off.

"So. Let me give you a rundown of what's happening, okay?" The older man suggests and is pleased by my shoulder-shrugging in response before nodding once.

"Right. So We're touring this castle that my friend just bought, planning out where we want certain classes to be for a school we're envisioning. Suddenly, there's a loud crack like something is breaking. we scramble to the front lawn, don't see anything, and head around to a side courtyard to find this young man, in very strange attire, passed out and bleeding away. He's been hit with some kind of severing charm that's nearly nicked his spine it's so deep and still, when we try and reach him a weak shield is thrown up even in his sleep. We charm him into a deeper sleep, bring him to the wing of the castle that had been used as an infirmary and other friend starts healing him. While she's trying to dig a chunk of stone out of his stomach he wakes up again, and I have to stun the boy, again. then he sleeps for two weeks with no thought to food or water or any of the normal bodily functions before waking up and staring at the ceiling, calm as you please."

Why he's talking he's unwinding the bandages around my middle, loosening the tightness I hadn't realized I was feeling. Did I want him to remove them? what if my stomach fell apart again? But besides a few bruises and a big, purple scar, there was nothing to tell me that the intestines I'd been holding what felt like yesterday were in fact mine and not someone else’s...

"We noticed some odd things about you lad."

"I'm an odd person." I finally tell him. he barks out a startled laugh before jarring me a little with how forceful he was tying my bandages up again. it was quick and professional, unlike Pomfrey. 

Who are you?" I finally ask.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. I'm Julius Hufflepuff. My wife, Helga, is the one who healed you. " he offers brightly. his golden-colored hair falls into his eyes as he offers a genuine smile to me. 

"I think I just heard you say, Julius... Hufflepuff!” I exclaim a little weakly as my head spins.

"You did." 

"Oh, merlin. What year is it?" I ask in shock., looking in disbelief around the room like it was going to explode on me.

It might.

"Well, that proves the theory. Godric has a bet you’re from the past, Rowena thinks you are from the future. My wife is just worked up that you were hurt so badly. So tell me lad, which is it then?"

"Wait, what? Godric, Rowena Helga- Oh no. no no no no no." I move to stand and he shoves me back in the bed again.

"You aren't moving until my wife clears you. I will bind you to the bed if I have to," he says warningly, waving a finger at me like it was going to make me stay still.

"But-" I cut off, take a deep breath. process what I want to say. panicking now just hurt and he was obviously not going to hex me.

"Where's Slytherin?"

"Who?" He answers back promptly, obviously confused. I feel my jaw drop. How could they be- what, touring the castle now that someone bought it- and not have Slytherin with them!

"He... helps you build the school."

"OH, so it's built? Correctly? That's fascinating. Is it still around in your time then?"

"Nearly a thousand years and it still stands, if not a little worse for wear at the moment. it's where I was in a duel and got injured." I explain at the questioning sound he makes in the back of his throat. he even tips his head like a damn dog, making me grin.

"We were never told the founders had family. Hell, we were never told that werewolves were allowed in besides one."

He's still for a split second before the smile and happy eyes are gone, replaced by a sneer.

"How would you know a werewolf, boy? they're just fairytales."

"No, they're quite common a thousand years from now. I have an uncle that was bitten when he was five." I explain to the chilling man. After a long, tense silence he sighs and deflates.

"My wife is afraid that I may be the first," he says softly, eyes a little distant. Why he was telling me this, I wasn’t sure, but I didn't have any false words of hope to give him. there wasn't a cure a thousand years from now, I couldn't help him even if I wanted to.

"You're from the future then."

"I am. I'm a student at your school."

"Not my school. this is all the trio's idea. I will go and get my wife so she can check on you and so that Rowena can collect her money from them." he stands, stretches so largely that the muscles and Joints I hear popping make me wince, before giving me another curious look.

"how old are you?"

"17."

"17, and already you've seen such vicious things. you were mumbling in your sleep, so we hit you with a translating charm, We're actually speaking welsh right now. Hopefully, it's all settled before you get a headache from it."

"It won’t, I've known occlumency since I was 12," I tell him confidently. his smile is back as he leaves the room and I'm left puzzling over whether I was still dreaming or not. 

It didn't take long. nearly as soon as the doors had closed they creak open again, but no one enters. I'm not sure what to expect, but a red-haired, pale blue-eyed little girl glancing in nervously is not what I was expecting at all.

"Hello, my name Is Rose. Mama says you're not awake yet so we can't play, but can we play when you're feeling better?" She chirps when she sees me sitting up. she glides into the room, maybe 10, with a smaller boy clutching her robes and offering me a bright smile that matched her fathers. a few moments later they were at my bedside, looking up at me with clear admiration.

"I’ve never heard daddy use bad words before." The little boy says softly, boldly climbing up onto the bed I was laying on and settling near my feet. he was 4 at most and was even carrying around some kind of stuffed creature under his arm.

"He used bad words?" I ask, somewhat amused.

"We were hiding behind the tapestry of aunt Merli. He started using bad words as soon as he left the room."

"He went looking for your mother."

"Helga isn't my mother," Rose says sharply, eyes narrowing. 

"I'm sorry, he said she was his wife."

"She is." her anger deflates and she leans against the bed next to her bother with a sigh.

"Father stole me from my mama after he found out I had magic three years ago. Mama didn't know what it meant and it scared her new husband." She tells me softly, and my heart aches at the thought. 

"My relatives that raised me didn't much like magic either." I finally settle on telling her. she looks up in surprise before a small smile touches her lips. she turns to her brother and says something I can't understand before turning and walking away, the brother still sitting serenely at the bottom of the bed and watching me almost unblinkingly as his sister disappears.

"Er, okay. what's your name?" I ask curiously.

"Vic."

"Vic? short for Victor?"

"Victorie, actually." The voice at the door has me glancing up in surprise. The woman at the door was not the homely woman portrayed by the Hufflepuff’s today. She was short, my size, and willowy. she had a sword on her hip and her wand in her hand and her mouth was in a thin line, as if she wasn't sure she should be amused or weary.

"Oh, I, er..."

"It's okay. Between his father's ailment and my... tendency to experiment, we've created a bit of a marvel." She says, her tone gentling as she took in the way I was relaxing against the pilows, obviously at ease with the kid on my bed and not about to curse him off of it.

"Oh?" I ask curiously.

"Mhm. Victorie was born a little girl, but They can shift as they please through male, female, and all sorts of features. It's hard to keep track of sometimes. Rowena is calling it a metamorphosis."

"Metamorphagus." I murmur distractedly, watching the child curl up around the bear in its arms like it was scared.

"It's okay, little one. I had a friend that could do the same thing." I soothe.

"Not everyone is so... accepting of their gift," Helga says as her wand swishes over me. I see the way it lights up my stomach and I frown at it when it turns a noxious orange color.

"Vic, can you go and get Uncle Godric and Rowena?" She asks gently, smiling when they nod eagerly and scoot off the bed to run out the open door.

"So. Julius said you were from the future. that you knew this castle. Rowena's castle."

"It's called Hogwarts in my time," I tell her easily enough. Her stare is far off, but she focuses on me in sharp intensity quite suddenly.

"And there's a fourth house?"

"Salazar Slytherin. He's a parseltongue, a pureblood, he hates muggles, he-"

"You're spouting a century of blurred history, child." She cuts me off gently, pulling up a few chairs and telling me the others will be here soon. when I give her a confused look, she rolls her eyes.

"We haven't even met this Salazar, and we plan on opening the school in the next few months. that means that either he doesn't exist and time is faulting already with you back here, or,"

"Sometime in the next month or so he shows up and impresses us enough to let him rule a house." A woman’s soft voice catches my attention. I look up and see a blond, plump looking woman shuffling in with a hand on her stomach. I instantly recognize the stance of a heavily pregnant woman and I'm surprised. I hadn't thought of it, but if there were heirs in my time, of course, the founders were having children.

"But you said you saw something." A confused voice has me looking further past her to a man leaning in the doorway.

he was skinny, skinnier than me. his face looked a little shallow like he was one missed meal away from toppling over. But he was tall, too. extremely so, the tallest man besides Hagrid I've ever met. he had long, brown hair pulled back into a bun and his eyes were just like Julius', this man was a werewolf. this was made obvious by the sword that was hanging at his hip that he shouldn't have been able to wield in his thin, emaciated state. When he turns to look at us his nostrils flare in surprise and for some reason, I feel rather like a rabbit caught in a room with a feral wolf. I'd never felt like that before with a werewolf and it was unsettling, to say the least.

"I saw something, yes. us three and another sitting at a head table with a room full of children. It's a few years out yet, but..." she trails off and shrugs as she finally manages to sit in the chair that was waiting for her, completely oblivious to the flaring of bright whiskey eyes behind her.

"Another?"

"A stranger until you appeared. the man sitting at the table was you."

"Oh, dear, We never got your name!" Helga looks horrified at that but I can't take my eyes away from the man that looked a hairsbreadth away from pouncing on me.

"Sir?"

"So he helps us settle the school then?" a voice floats into the room before Julius pushes the man aside pointedly and comes to stand behind Helga with an affectionate kiss to her cheek.

"I'm too young for that!" I squeak out in shock.

"Please. I'm 22 and Rowena Just turned 20. Granted the men are 34 and 37 but they live long lives so it doesn’t matter. You're, what, 20?"

"I turned 17 this year," I say in a haze. they share surprised looks and I miss it completely, running over all the facts- were they facts?- of Salazar. he was a parslemouth. So was I. he had black hair. so did I. he had bright green eyes, so did I. He was a master potions maker. While I wasn't master level yet, Severus had promised me I would be able to take my test for it when the war was over. I was no muggle lover, but I didn’t think they should all die, either. but what Helga said was true- there was no real documentation of what went on in the castle until the late 1800s and even then it was hazardous. whose to say Slytherin hadn't lived and died here and it was just a fantastical story? 

One about me, if Rowena was one to be believed.

"How do you know it's me?" I ask in resignation. She seems surprised at my easy acceptance and I want to laugh at her. If she thought her riddles were hard she really needed to get ahold of Luna sometime.

"It is your choice. I would love to have an even number of houses, of course, and it would be simple to charm the hat once it was on Your head." Helga points out gently.

"I.... can I think about it?" I ask wearily. she nods, looking to the man who was still at the door.

"Well then Godric, come in," Helga called making me jolt again. this whisp of a man was 'the Gryffindors Gryffindor’? he prowled forward like the predator he was and gives a small shrug.

"I didn' want to crowd the boy," he explains into the silence. I let them start bickering with each other as I faded in out of existence.

"You said he was fine!" a voice was growling. It was too close for my liking so I move, and my stomach pangs again, making me let out a low whimper.

"Shush now, We're fixing you. why did you pass out?" The voice is gentle, and the fingers touching my face even more so. the heavy accent gave away that it was Godric touching my face, propping me up on the bed.

"Loud noises give me a headache. I'm sorry." I murmur, trying to wiggle out of his tight grasp. he doesn't let me go, however, the pommel of his sword digging into my hip and letting me know exactly how close we were pressed together.

"I don't think you want to do that, You busted your stomach open again." He's murmuring again, but I still can't hear what exactly is said from the murmured group at the foot of my bed. Finally, Helga enters my line of vision and pushes a potion in my hands with a stern look.

"I"ll spell it into you if I have to. drink it up."

"You don't have to tell me twice," I mutter, downing the bottle in half a second.

"Thank you." I murmur, exhausted. She smiles sweetly at me to my shock.

"I think you're my new favorite. no one else will take the potions I've touched unless they were there when I got it in the first place." She explains while the others start bickering around us again. my head gives a painful throb and I groan again. I finally manage to detangle the arms holding me in place, much to Godric's annoyance It seems. I wait until It's tapered off between the three of them since Helga had joined.

"How are you, teachers?" I ask a little mystified.

"We’re all Chaotic good."

"No, I'm pretty sure Godric is chaotic evil," Rowena mutters petulantly. a warning growl is the only thing she gets in response as he slides off the bed behind me and moves to sit in the chair. I watch them in confusion for a moment before turning to him again.

"So. What needs to be done in the castle?" I glance at the others to let them know they could answer too.

"The west tower needs finished, the library needs set up, the headmasters office needs finished, we still need a media witch, we need an astronomy teacher, and we need a potions and transfiguration teacher. "

"And you want to open when?" I ask in alarm.

"In a few months. My husband is out searching for teachers, and we've already sent out magicked notes for the students. they read out loud if they can't read, they're portkeys, and they won’t read out loud if there's any muggles around because a lot of parents would see their kids burned at the stake for being a witch or wizard.”

"You're going to need a lot more than that. I could, maybe, teach Potions." I say hesitantly, before I realize what I'm saying and clamp my mouth shut. they all share a look before Helga comes forward and clutches at my hands.

"You're from the future."

"I am." 

"We haven't met this Salazar that you're talking about so far, and he doesn't seem to be showing up."

"Maybe."

"You still haven't told us your name."

I scowl at that but she just smiles at me gently and pats at my hands again.

"You don't think, or perhaps, don't want, to go back to the future."

"I need to." I protest, but it's half-hearted at best. she shakes her head at me and I see Rowena make an aborted motion to touch her back before she struggles to stand and clutch at my hand too.

"You make this place so much better." She says softly, making me wince again.

"You've seen more than you've told me."

"If you knew your future completely you'd run before it happened."

Well, that didn't make me feel any better.

"Sal, please. We need you, and you can help so much. and you said that you need to go, not that you want to." Helga says again.

"I can't just... leave them."

"You have a family?" Julius says with sympathy. I shrug hesitantly.

"Friends I consider family, yes. a Godson. A werewolf uncle. Brothers. Sisters." I trail off as I go over whose alive and whose dead at this point. 

"You've lost family as well."

"I have."

"Do you want to go back? say the words and we will help you in every possible way to get back to where you came from."

"I need to." I protest again, but it's even weaker than before.

"I have to hear you say you want to," Helga says with a grin, making me laugh weakly.

"I'm so, so tired of fighting. I've killed him. So No, I don't want to. My prophecy is over." I tell her at a low murmur. they share a surprised look around the room but doesn't comment on it besides squeezing my hands and letting go.

"Well then, Salazar Slytherin, Welcome to Hogwarts.”


End file.
